I've looked at some variants on bgg, some are very cool and I will need to try them. I also thought about variants I would like to try as well, but I would like to have some feedback on them if you tried them already (or some variation of them) and how it went with your group of players:

1) increase the number of cards displayed in the center row: go from 6 to 10 or 12 to increase the strategic choices

2) remove the center row and have organized center decks: 1 pile for each faction put in columns, in which there is an equal number of hidden monsters and events. Then, each of these columns become a row of its own with a fixed number of cards displayed.

3) same as 2), but you add another pile for each faction from a different box set of ascension (for example, storm of souls + rise of vigil)

With these ideas for variants, I would like to have a mix between dominion style (which isn't my favorite style because everything is on the board) and ascension style which contains, for some of my player buddies, too few strategic choices each turn. I love deck-building, so I don't really mind, but I think ascension has room for improvement with some adjustments.

I did the same for one of my favorites, Star Realms (same creator!). My brother and I would separate all four colors out into four piles, lined up in a column. Then, we flip over anywhere from 2-4 cards per pile (I prefer four, giving you a total of 16 cards to choose from). Throw in the always available Explorers, with the now always available Merc Cruisers as well, and voila! You have a grown up deck-builder with a little more strategy/less luck.